Martini Rox: Swagga Boyz are one of Toledo’s best rap groups

If you’ve been involved in the Toledo Hip-Hop music scene within the past five or six years, you know about the members of The Swagga Boyz — Cuntry, Red, Chief and Mally. Considered to be one of (if not) the best rap groups in the city, it was only a matter of time before one of the members would be recognized beyond the city/state limits for his talents. Enter Mally Speaks, aka Mally the Martian, the group’s producer, who raps. Or is he the rapper who produces? Either way, his talent has taken him from the Midwest to the East Coast and there he stays with a list of some of the industry’s hottest rappers vying for his production. Mally never planned to be a producer, but as a rapper coming from a musically inclined family, he knew he could play by ear and had options.

The journey to the top hasn’t been easy. Mally was signed while in the Swagga Boyz by Shawn Stockman’s (of Boyz II Men) Soul Chemistry Project, but was introduced to the rude awakening of the music industry’s uncertainty when things did not work out. Each group member is individually talented with more than “potential” to be at the top of the charts and Mally plans to lead the way. While working with various artists, he finds time for his own projects like his album with Swagga Boyz member Chief as one half of “The Ex.” The Ex is a Hip-Hop group with an ’80s sound, complete with fun/lighthearted subject matter, vibrant synthesizers and old bass kicks.

It’s the critical success of his music that keeps his production in high demand. After dealing with personal and professional stress, like many artists before him, he had come to that breaking point when it was time to decide to pursue his dream like a career. From there, Mally made the life changing choice to move to New Jersey to be closer to business opportunities and his clientele in New York City.

Earlier this year, Mally released his first mixtape, “Martian Man Randy Savage,” giving fans his “out of the box” sound mixed with classic Hip-Hop track production.

This project is packed with original music in his signature Midwest, “Golden Era”-influenced style with light accents from the ’80s and classic street East Coast beats reminiscent of the late ’90s. Mally completes his music with an easy flow and lyrical content beyond rap’s current pop sound. It was a coincidence that the mixtape’s namesake, the legendary wrestler “Macho Man” Randy Savage, passed away shortly after the album was released. So if the music is original, what makes it a mixtape and what does the wrestler have to do with it? It is the art of his approach and his use of specific rants from Savage at the height of his fame to introduce the tracks on his mixtape. This type creativity and controversial themes are what he plans to repeat in future mixtape projects.

After I listened to his music and actually downloaded the album, it was apparent that the time had come for Mally and I to engage in the conversation we were always meant to have. I would find out he is more familiar than strange and very intelligent; few artists understand radio as it relates to the music business as he does. Meshing the old with the new, he has a futuristic sound for young enthusiasts and everything the older Hip-Hop generation respects. When I asked him who he’s worked with in the music industry he humbly replied, “I’ve done Tyga ‘Remember Me,’ Freeway ‘Transporters,’ Paul Cain ‘White Power.’ [I am] currently working with Fabolous and his StreetFam Label and Lloyd Banks’ G Unit Cold Corner 2 mixtape.” Sounding like a seasoned insider, it was a chance meeting in Chicago with rapper Paul Cain that helped put him in such good company.

He has committed to putting out a new mixtape every two months and this week his newest mixtape, “Mally Sheen,” will be released and available for download.

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on Tuesday, November 1st, 2011 at 11:51 am and is filed under Music, On the Rox, Star.
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